Why Get Involved?

An estimated 3 million North Koreans have perished under North Korea's brutal dictatorial regime since the mid-1990s. Families continue to starve to death as the North Korean government withholds food rations to entire regions of the nation. The government arbitrarily detains, tortures, and executes its citizens, including children, in a large network of prison/labor camps. Hundreds of thousands of North Koreans have fled to China to survive, however they live in fear of forced repatriation, imprisonment, and possible execution after repatriation. Children whose parents have died or been separated from them wander the streets in search of food and protection. We must act now to bring relief!...

Please join us as we observe Save North Korean Refugees Day on Friday, September 22, 2017. There will be demonstrations, protests, letter deliveries, and more in cities around the world.

Please click here for a message from NKFC Chairman Suzanne Scholte with more information about how you can get involved.

SNKR Day 2016:

Petition Calling on the U.S. Senate to Take Action on North Korea and Promote Freedom and Human Rights

Recent provocations by the North Korean regime demand a response. There are several bills that have overwhelmingly passed the U.S. House of Representatives this year with strong bipartisan support, yet no corresponding action has been taken in the the U.S. Senate. Your Senator needs to hear from YOU. Please join the North Korea Freedom Coalition's petition to the Senate by adding your name in support of the bipartisan legislation listed below. Your name, city, and zip code will be included with the letter that the North Korea Freedom Coalition will hand deliver to your Senator's office on Capitol Hill.

By joining this petition your Senator will know you want action to promote freedom and human rights for the suffering people of North Korea.

North Korea Freedom Week was a resounding success again this year! Hundreds of people attended events every day. Please view our final report here:

North Korea Freedom Week 2017
April 23rd to April 28th
Washington DC

North Korea Freedom Week returns to Washington DC this year and we have many events planned. We've setup a special page to feature all of this information. Please visit NKFW.org to find our more!

NKFC Women at the UN Commission on the Status of Women

The NKFC co-sponsored an event on March 17, 2017 at the UN Commission on the Status of Women titled North Korean Women: Destitution and Human Trafficking in China. Read an update of the event here.

Read the statement submitted by our Working Group on North Korean Women to the UN Commission on the Status of Women.

Sign the Petition to Xi Jinping

Please help North Korea Freedom Coalition member Na-Yeon Park of Rutgers collect signatures to be delivered to President Xi Jinping through various Chinese Embassies. This is an important cause as China is the "gate-keeper" to so many issues surrounding North Korean refugees and other issues involving North Korea.

A conference on the groundbreaking hearing that will feature live testimony from three North Korean defectors: a former prisoner, a former prison guard and a former official from the Ministry of People’s Security, which oversees North Korea’s network of gulags. Three renowned jurists will preside over the hearing: Navanethem Pillay (Chair), Mark Harmon, and Thomas Buergenthal. The hearing also will feature expert testimony from renowned experts on North Korea’s gulags and its penal system generally — David Hawk and Ken Gause. With pro bono assistance from the law firm of Hogan Lovells, the case will be presented by members of the IBA’s War Crimes Committee, Greg Kehoe, Federica D’Alessandra and Steven Kay, Q.C.

SAVE NORTH KOREAN REFUGEES DAY 2016 REPORT

Where in the world will you be on Friday, September 23rd? Will you join people around the world standing up for the people of North Korea, the most suffering people on Earth? Please join the annual Save North Korean Refugees Day scheduled for Friday, September 23, 2016.

Please sign the petition asking the US Senate to pass H.Con.Res.114/S.Con.Res.30 to help bring U.S. Citizen David Sneddon home. Sneddon went missing while hiking in China in 2004. It is believed that he may have been kidnapped by the North Korean regime as he was last seen leaving a Korean restaurant and was fluent in Korean. China allows North Korean agents to operate freely within its territory and North Korea has a long history of kidnapping individuals thought to be useful to the regime, especially for training their spies in foreign languages and culture.

For the first time in history the United States has blacklisted Kim Jong-un and other North Korean leaders for their human rights abuses. Ambassador Power remarked on the sanctions, "These efforts send a clear message--not just to the senior leaders, but also prison camp managers and guards, censors, secret police, interrogators, and persecutors of defectors--the world is documenting your abuses, and they will not be forgotten."

April 24-30, NKFW 2016 took place in Seoul, South Korea, and it was a huge success! Please see a report from the week here.

U.S. Mission to the UN Hosts Event on North Korean Women

On March 18th, the U.S. Mission to the UN hosted an event featuring four women defectors of North Korea who shared their testimonies of the atrocities they faced in North Korea. This event was hosted by US Ambassador Power, South Korean Ambassador Oh, Japanese Ambassador Yoshikawa, and UK Ambassador Wilson. To read an NKFC report of the event that was published in the Washington Times, please click here.

President Obama signs H.R. 757 into Law

On February 18th, President Obama signed H.R. 757 - North Korea Sanctions and Policy Enhancement Act of 2016 into law. We are excited that it received so much support, passing in the House with a 418 - 2 vote and unanimously in the Senate. Thank you to everyone who expressed support and advocated on behalf of the bill. Content of the new law may be viewed here.

U.S. Policy Toward North Korea:
The Case for Instituting a More Effective, Human Rights-Centric Approach

The conference will be held on October 27, 2015 in Washington, D.C. at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced and International Studies (SAIS). The International Bar Association (North America), Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights, Defense Forum Foundation, North Korea Freedom Coalition, The Committee for Human Rights in North Korea, US-Korea Institute at SAIS, Yonsei Center for Human Liberty and Freedom House are convening this conference to bring together decision-makers on Capitol Hill and in the Administration, as well as civil society, to discuss the importance of making human rights a central pillar of U.S. policy toward North Korea. A keynote speech will be delivered by Justice Michael Kirby, who was appointed by UN Secretary General Ban-Ki Moon to chair the UN Commission of Inquiry on Human Rights in North Korea. For more info and to RSVP, click here.

We urge you to contact your U.S. Senator to express support for H.R. 757. The North Korea Sanctions Enforcement Act of 2015 is a bipartisan legislation that will strengthen the enforcement of tough, targeted financial sanctions against the North Korea regime and its egregious human rights abuses, censorship, arms trade, weapons of mass destruction development, illicit activities, and cyber attacks.

FNKR is the award winning radio station, staffed by North Korean
defectors, that is broadcasting into North Korea news, educational programs
about democracy and human rights, accurate historical facts, other vital information, and hope to the isolated people in North Korea. According to independent surveys of North Koreans who have escaped, FNKR is the most popular radio program that has ever broadcast into North Korea. The FNKR website is also the most popular website in South Korea for information about North Korea. FNKR's founder and director, Kim Seong Min, has received international recognition for his work. He is the recipient of the 2009 Asia Democracy and Human
Rights Award from the Taiwan Foundation for Democracy and the 2008 Media
Award from Reporters Without Borders. FNKR needs your financial support to continue its crucial work. To support
this broadcast, individuals and organizations
can make a tax deductible donation to FNKR through the Defense Forum Foundation.

The Commission has documented in detail the "unspeakable atrocities" committed and that continue in North Korea. The Report also includes in a letter from the Commission to Kim Jong-un, stating its intention to refer the situation to the International Criminal Court "to render accountable all those, including possibly yourself, who may be responsible for the crimes against humanity" referred to in the letter and the Report. The COI's 372 page detailed report is published at the U.N. Human Rights website. The U.N.'s press release, North Korea: UN Commission documents wide-ranging and ongoing crimes against humanity, urges referral to ICC, is also available here.

Laotian Government called to protect 9 North Korean orphans forced back to North Korea, June 5, 2013.